Capricorn was crouched in the corner by the wall that framed the metal detector and gate. Just past that short wall was the corner and the left turn to the corridor where staff had retreated. Prison officers, security. People with guns. I got his attention, then indicated the shutters, moving my hand to emulate the shutter coming down.

He gave me a nod of confirmation. I saw orange lights start to move along the ceiling.

I was crouched by the same wall on my side of the hallway. Behind me, Sveta, Natalie and Lookout were all gathered against the wall. Lookout was ignoring the situation and focusing on her phone. Her primary goal right now was in keeping the warden and his deputy from accessing any computers to start detonating ankle bombs. Her secondary goal would be to keep an eye on what was going on.

She looked laser-focused on her task. I felt less like a cape than I had on my first night out in costume.

“Tress,” Goddess said. “At the desk. Someone with a gun.”

I barely had time to turn my head before Tress had sent her arms forward. She grabbed the sides of the metal detector, then slingshotted herself through it, straight at the window of the desk. The scrape that followed was sharp, suggesting she’d scraped away some paint. The red light and the buzz of the metal detector was immediate, but she moved fast enough that it seemed like it followed too late.

I didn’t stay to watch. As off as I felt, I had to act. I flew up, hands and feet going up and back as I landed with my back to the ceiling, my extremities catching the impact and minimizing the sound. I flew while keeping as close to the ceiling as possible, cloth skimming across painted ceiling. I had a glimpse of the people in the hallway, crouched by short walls and benches like I’d been crouched by the wall. The shutter and its mechanism provided some limited cover. The fact that the fluorescent lights focused on lighting the lower half of the room more than they focused on covering the ceiling helped. If anyone saw me and reacted, they didn’t shoot.

The Wretch struck the locking mechanism, disappearing an instant after it had appeared—

A violent image, the Wretch visible to me like it had been in the hospital room, except ghostly, existing only in the form of streaked raindroplets and rain breaking against an invisible surface. And beyond it—Amy.

Focus.